Maiduguri, 25 March 2017 - Regardless of the insecurity in Borno state, more than 14, 000 volunteers are set to vaccinate 1.9 million children under 5-years old against wild poliovirus. The exercise, which is the first nationwide campaign against polio this year, will take place from 25 to 29 March 2017. WHO and partners have trained 1,817 house-to-house, 410 fixed posts and 362 transit teams in addition to 150 health camps across 206 wards in all local government areas (LGAs) except Abadam and Marte due to insecurity. 

In August 2016, four children were paralyzed by the disease in the security-compromised areas of Borno state, north-eastern Nigeria.

“Reaching all eligible children in Borno is critical in this campaign in order to sustain the containment of the outbreak of polio virus which reappeared in August last year after close to two years without polio,” says Dr. Audu Idowu, WHO Coordinator for Borno state.  

Towards achieving this, WHO in Borno state is collaborating with the government at all levels, partners and security agents including Civilian Joint Task Force in addition to engaging 993 senior independent supervisors to directly observe the administration of polio vaccine in six high risk LGAs: Maiduguri, Monguno, Gubio, Mafa, Konduga and Jere.

All eligible children have the right to be immunized and protected against all childhood diseases. This requires that every child is reached with potent vaccines whenever due and during every immunization campaign. WHO appeals to all parents and caregivers to avail their children of the opportunity to be protected against polio over the next five days.   

For more information, please contact:

Technical contact:
Dr Fiona Braka; Tel: +234 703 170 5252; Email:  brakaf [at] who.int " target="_blank"> brakaf [at] who.int

Media contact:
Dr Chima Onuekwe; Tel: +234 803 535 4876 Email:onuekwec [at] who.int" target="_blank"> onuekwec [at] who.int